in. that's "viewpoint" tonight. stay tune >> jennifer: hi, everybody. i'm jennifer granholm and tonight in "the war room," in-depth analysis of the romney combine gone wrong! lions and tigers and bear hugs, oh mitt. >> i'm not reducing taxes on high income taxpayers. >> jennifer: oh, baloney. on a sunday in which our modern day gladiators took to the field, team romney showed up with its own playbook, hiding behind the cheerleaders. there is a bright side to their confusion. i could have gone my whole life without happening upon an opportunity to use the phrase lily-livered. thank you mitt!

>> jennifer: the conventions are over, the candidates are back on the trail and mitt romney is back to his old tricks. secrets, lies, flip-flops and evasion. and this weekend he flip-flopped again! so here we are again at our shrine to mitt's flips. home to so much of romney's best double talk. the latest edition comes from this issue of healthcare. here he is on "meet the press" yesterday. >> part of the federal plan -- >> i'm not getting rid all of healthcare reform. of course there are a number of things i like in healthcare reform that i'm going to put in place. one is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. >> jennifer: so he would get rid of obama care except for the plan's most popular features, the ones like the poll well, eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions. just a few hours after he said that on mean bheep his intox

bhan told the conservative national review, he was not proposing a federal bhand date to require insurance plans to offer insurance to people with before he existing conditions. he wasn't, huh sphwh but it doesn't even end there because after that, yet another campaign aide told "buzzfeed" that actually maybe he would require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions. saying romney will ensure that discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage is prohibited. what! another flip-flop. then today on the campaign trail... romney etch-a-sketch all over these pesky policy details and he just said this. >> and i want to get rid of obama care because it is killing jobs and small businesses.

>> jennifer: wait. so now he's back to getting rid of all of it. that, ladies and gentlemen is a whopper of a flip-flop a three flip-flop flip-flop. a triple gainer. all right. we're going to put those on the line. the flip-flop line, the clothesline later. but it's not just healthcare. did he the same song and dance yesterday on the issue of taxes. when david gregory asked him on "meet the press" to name the loopholes he would close to pay for his tax cuts on the wealthy without raising taxes on the middle class romney avoided giving any specifics whatsoever. >> i want to lower the burden on middle income people. >> governor, where are the specifics of how you get to this map? isn't that an issue? >> romney: the specifics are these. those principles i described are the heart of my bol. and i've indicated as well that contrary to what the ghocts are saying i'm not going to

increase the tax burden on middle income families. it would be wrong to do that. >> jennifer: wrong to spec guy what you're going to do. all right. i have a flip-flop for you. it's not really a flip-flop because he doesn't really say anything. it is more like an oil slick but it does seem that obfuscation runs in the republican family. yesterday ball ryan denied denied signing a bill that would cut defense spending. this is a defense budget flip-flop. he signed that bill! he voted for that bill. here he is cbs's maura o'donnell. >> the obama administration proposed $478 billion in defense cuts. our budget rejected that. and then on top of that, it is another $500 billion in defense cuts. >> it is a trillion dollars in defense spending and you voted for it. >> no. nora -- >> you voted for it.

>> nora, you're mistaken. >> jennifer: that just kills me. of course she was mistaken, ryan voted for the very thing which he's criticizing the about the for. cuts to defense spending. and after ryan voted for that bill, he actually released a statement praising it. flip-flop! boom. if you're confused by all of the position changes you're not alone. so am i. so are most people. you know what? that is the point! mitt is a smart man. he made a lot of money. he's been very successful. so it can't be we know he's incompetent. that's too easy an explanation. could it be that this is all part of a very clever, dare i say brilliant plan? romney seems to have a three-pronged campaign strategy. rally the base. rally the right. confuse the middle and suppress the votes on the left. that's it in a nutshell.

let me say it again. rally the right. confuse the middle, suppress the left. so how does it work? well, all of this evasiveness is just a way of muddying the waters so much that ind bents and undecides can see whatever they want to see in mitt. so go romney takes enough positions, eventually, they're going to satisfy everybody. go you're looking for a specific blan on a certain issue, just stare at romney's statements for awhile and eventually you'll find one you like. he's made himself an election shock test. you don't know what his true plan is. that's on burp! because if moderate voters knew the details of the romney/ryan blan, he would not like them. let's see. trillion dollar deficits, tax cuts for the wealthy. tax increases for the middle class. privatization of medicare.

erosion of the social safety net. erosion of women's rights, shortchanging our country's infrastructure education energy economic future, it is not a pretty picture folks. i think they have made the calculation. they have actually done a business 101 cost benefit analysis and they've decided that it's better to be called vague and misleading than to show the voters who they really are. and you know what sphwh they may be right. it is disheartening, it is dishonest but i guess they believe for the rare, undecided voter, confusion is better than the truth. so that's confusing the middle. as for the other barts of romney's plan, rallying the base rallying the right and suppressing the left, those are easy to intot. romney rallies the right by pandering to the base. by picking paul ryan about by

lashing out against obama care. by dog whistling to the racists with his birth certificate jokes. just in the last few days, he endorsed iowa representative steve king, for example. the guy steve king who doesn't know if rape victims can get pregnant. he refers to immigrants as dogs. this weekend romney appeared with televangelist pat robertson in virginia. he gave this speech that was laced with religious references and questions about the president president's patriotism >> romney: we're a nation by god. one nation, indivisible i will not divide this nation. i will not abollize for america -- apologize for america abroad and i will not apologize for america here at home. >> jennifer: apologize. who's doing that? throw some of that red bheat out there to rally the base of your

party. get tea partiers, evangelicals fired up, get them to the polls. that's rallying the right. suppressing the left is a last-ditch effort go it those first two tactics fail. so the left, of course, are us progressives. go you can't win by having more votes, make sure the other guys don't get to vote. in other words cheat. voting rights are in jeopardy across this country from the 750,000 beam who are going to be disenfranchised by the voter law and by florida's voter purge. today, the nonprofit group common cause came out with a shocking report showing it goes way beyond voter i.d. we're going to talk about that later in the show. the effort to prevent voters from participating is astonishing in its boldness and today, there's news that

concerns me as much as it should concern mitt romney. a cnn bowl out today shows the president with a lead. to what depth will a now desperate romney combine stoop if an evenly-matched combine is already burr suing a rally the right is up bres the -- suppress the left and confuse the middle strategy. armed with superback billions. is it going to work? former arizona congressman j.d. hay wealth has his finger on the pulse of the right wing better than any republican out there. but is he feeling the rallying cry? plus the middle may be confused about mitt romney's policies but

is that helping him in the polls? and later the latest on the most blood boiling part of team romney's strategy. suppressing the vote in new ways. this is "the war it's go time. what time is it rob? oh, then it's go. go. go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time!

(vo) current tv presents, a one hour political comedy special. >> republicans. government's so small it can fit in your vagina. (vo) featuring stephanie miller and friends, in the funniest political comedy tour in america. >> fox news is like a mecca for people who hate mecca. (vo) with exclusive, behind the scenes footage. >> it is a movement. (vo) don't miss stephanie miller"s sexy liberal comedy tour. >> i'm going to go cop some cheap feels. >> romney: i will not take god in the name of our platform. i will not take god off our coins and i will not take god out of my heart. >> jennifer: if you ever had any doubt that governor mitt romney hopes to win the presidential election by appealing to the hard right as one component of his strategy, his comments in virginia saturday should erase all of the uncertainties. look who's behind romney. that's televangelist pat

robertson. the pat robertson who said the feminist agenda causes women to leave their husbands and become lesbians. the pat robertson who said we should nuke the state department and he advocated assassinating venezuelan president hugo chavez. that pat robertson. mitt romney's new bff. but even though strategies to mobilize the republican base are -- it looks like he will need more than that to clinch the election. several new polls bear the theory out. let's begin with rasmussen. as any political junky knows tends to skew republican. in the national survey released today, rasmussen has obama leading governor romney 50% to 45%. the last time president obama had this big a lead in a rasmussen poll was back in march. president obama is also doing well in several key swing states.

tpp has him at 50% to mitt rom's 45% in the great state of ohio. president obama is even leading in north carolina by 1 point. so is the riling up the base strategy going to get mitt romney a win? coming to us tonight from phoenix to discuss the pros and cons of mitt romney's right ward tact is tea party darling and former arizona republican congressman j.d. hayworth. j.d. ran against john mccain from the right. he knows the thinking behind a g.o.p. base strategy. j.d., welcome back inside "the war room." >> hey jen, it is great to be back with you. i hope you enjoyed my native north carolina last week with your speech in charlotte and your time at the convention there. >> jennifer: i had a great time at the convention. and can i say those north north carolinians were incredibly hospitable. i had a great time. thank you for saying it. >> good deal. >> jennifer: j.d., you ran to

the right of mccain but you ended up losing. i'm wondering what your thoughts are on the whole sort of running to the right strategy for romney. >> well, again let's understand and we'll pull the curtain back on both sides. the key is to energize your base whether you're on the right or the left, and then appeal to some more voters and bring them along the way. both sides will be appealing to the base, not to revisit history but a couple of notes about the 2010 republican senatorial primary here in arizona, i was pleased we raised $3 million. of course, john spent $30 million against me. many of those dollars coming from a loophole using the presidential funds of 2008. that's well and good but more to your point jen -- >> jennifer: you have to get out the explanation for why it didn't work out. >> can i explain -- you just asked me about the base part of this. let's talk about it. john, if you'll go back and look

at the commercials john ran in many ways, embracing the conservative themes i talked about. for example border fence and getting tough on border security john also, of course, endorsed the very bush tax cuts he voted against earlier in his senate term. really, he was running to the base as well. so the fact is the conservative base is as much a part the republican party as the progressive leftist base is to the democratic party to get the voters out. >> jennifer: it is a different strategy when you're running in a primary rather than a general election. other people assume you get your etch-a-sketch out and move to the center. i'm wondering if there are enough conservative voters who can be motivated to engage in this rift potentially of losing the middle or the independents. do you think there are enough conservatives to get out that vote and end up having him win?

>> i think the wild card in this or what the republicans are depending on, nobody wants to see the economy in the horrible shape that it's in. but with the economy in tatters the fact is that will redown to the benefit of the challenger. it is why the president stayed away from talking about his record. stayed away from talking about obama care. stayed away from talking about the stimulus package during his acceptance speecht other day and with the reference to the uptick in numbers you talked about that is the much flaunted post-convention bounce. it does show up. >> jennifer: romney didn't get a post-convention bounce, j.d. >> i think by some polls he did. listen the fact is you and i both know that polls are snapshots and the polls that count will be the ones that open the first tuesday following the first monday in november on election day. >> jennifer: hey j.d., just to get back to this issue about

romney not appearing to answer any questions this weekend particularly on this loophole strategy his vacillation. you've been a candidate. i've been a candidate. we both know that consultants tell candidates to answer the question they want to answer. and not necessarily the ones that you're asked. don't you think mitt romney is -- especially guilty i'll say of that? >> well, i think this weekend at least based on the "meet the press" interview i saw, there was an analog, i think that mitt will do well to talk about his much flaunted five-point plan but to explain how to connect the dots. i think doing so with the real life stories of americans who are facing this challenging economy, i think anecdote on one hand and antidote being the alternative to the administration, i think that combination could work.

>> jennifer: wait, j.d., you're doing exactly that. he didn't answer the questions specifically. maybe you might not have seen the interview with david gregory but gregory went after him twice saying what loopholes would you close? in order for this tax plan to be revenue neutral. he didn't answer it. and then when paul ryan was asked this very same question by george stephanopoulos, ryan said err, err we're going to tell you after the election. don't you think that this the strategy of not revealing that tells you something about how well accepted that plan would be? >> oh, i don't know. i think a campaign heavy on hope and change in 2008 largely void of the specifics worked pretty well. i think the fact that -- i will say this. i think -- maybe it is because i'm an n. c. state guy. you were just down in charlotte. you know the rivalry between the wolf pack and the tar heels. if he follows a four corners

offense staying totally away from specifics, i think that will be trouble. but a less than hospitable environment with dade gregory and the give-and-take of an interview, i think you always control your answers and i think the real challenge is on the stump and in advertising and moving the message forward to connect those dots to make the case more specifically. >> jennifer: just for the viewers who just saw that exchange, the fact that j.d. went off and talked about the sports metaphor, et cetera might be a great example of answering the question that you want to answer rather than the question that you're definitely asked. i love you j.d. >> you're kind enough to have me on. >> jennifer: i love it. i'm totally grateful. >> you may not like the answers. >> jennifer: exactly. >> but i'm always happy to answer the questions as best as i can. >> jennifer: if mitt romney called you today and asked you for one piece of advice on how he could win the election, what would you tell him?

>> i would say for him to remember jack kemp's admonition, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. bringing in real life stories of americans and the challenges they're facing and why romney presidency would benefit them. i think ronald reagan perfected that in the '80s. that would be the strategy i would advise governor romney to utilize heading down the homestretch in this campaign. >> jennifer: humanizing is always a good one. thank you so much for coming in. former congressman j.d. hayworth. after the break, confuse the middle. we're going to talk about that strategy. how is mitt romney doing it and what does president obama have to do to undo it? michael tomasky of "newsweek" daily beat is going to help us break down that part of mitt romney's strategy. that's next only right here in "the war room." there's joy and now there's joy on current tv. >>i feel like i don't even know you. >>just stay on your side of the screen, okay?

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almond joy and mounds. unwrap paradise. >> jennifer: welcome back inside "the war room." i'm jennifer granholm. we started the show by stating romney is pursuing three strategies. rally the g.o.p. base, confuse the middle and suppress the vote of the left. so we're going to shift our conversation to romney's strategy of confusing the middle. obviously been very evident. we've talked about it earlier. if you're looking for a clear explanation on any tough issue from either mitt romney or paul ryan, i'm sorry to tell you that they're just like your bad college boyfriend who never gave. >> straight answer. you heard from romney earlier in the show. here's ryan. >> you and mitt romney are proposing $5 trillion in tax cuts. you're proposing to increase

defense spending by $2 trillion. explain to me how that adds up and you can cut the deficit? >> neither of those numbers are accurate number one. number two we're talking about revenue neutral tax reform. meaning not losing revenue but changing the way we raise revenue by plugging loopholes in tax shelters enjoyed by higher income earners. >> jennifer: of course, he never says which loopholes they intend to plug. he'll tell you after the election, they say. they don't want you to know their plans, folks. just pat us on the head. they figure that getting criticized for lack of specificity is better than getting criticized for being specific. and that's their whole strategy. win the election by confusing the voters in the middle and keeping policy prescriptions purposefully vague. coming to us from washington tonight to discuss the confuse the middle strategy is michael tomasky, special correspondent with "newsweek" and the "daily

beast." michael, welcome back inside "the war room." >> thank you governor. >> jennifer: so why don't you think that more people are calling them out the romney/ryan ticket for failing to get specific? i see the media starting to do that. don't you think people should be clamoring for specificity? >> yeah, well, you know, it is starting. it is definitely taking hold. i think that after ryan's convention speech. i actually think there was quite a lot of fact checking of that speech and of going over that speech and showing hey, what he said here simply isn't true. i think it started to catch on then and i think the experiences that they had yesterday on television were really pretty close to disastrous for both of them. romney on "meet the press." romney lying to nora o'donnell's face as you showed 10 or 15 minutes ago. this is catching up with them. i don't think they'll be able to

play this game. >> jennifer: that's encouraging for me to hear you say that. you know, what do you think would happen if the actual ticket did start to get more specific? do you think this will lead them to be more specific? >> well, you know, i can't really answer that by saying yes because they can't get more specific for many of the reasons that you've stated. there is not money contrary to what paul ryan just said. this was a big study that came out three weeks ago that the romney campaign denounced. independent experts vouch for. big study came out three weeks ago that said there aren't enough deductions and loopholes that only rich people take advantage of to create enough money to offset the amount by which they want to reduce marginal tax rates so, therefore, they have to dig in to deductions and loopholes that middle class people rely on like the home mortgage interest deduction, like the fact that

most people's employers sponsored healthcare is tax-free and other things like that. so that's why they won't answer the question as you well know because if they answer you truthfully, they would have to say they'll take away the deductions that middle class people have counted on for decades. but they can't say that. >> jennifer: keep dancing keep sliding on the oil slick of ambiguity. in this article for the daily beat today you said the paul ryan budget plan is the main issue in the campaign. so why do you think that? >> i've thought it from the day that mitt romney endorsed the ryan budget plan and i wasn't alone. i and several other liberal columnists immediately wrote pieces that said this is the key moment in this race. and romney didn't want to endorse it for about a day. he danced around. did he his usual thing on the oil slick of ambiguity. i may use that. i'll credit you.

>> jennifer: i've used your stuff before, too. >> i thought i heard a little something -- no, i'm just kidding. but anyway, he danced around for about a day. he came back and said of course, i support the ryan budget and from that moment on, many of us knew this is a big deal that he endorse this budget because this budget is draconian radical. this budget is way way out there and it has many, many implications for medicare, medicaid. many domestic programs and not just domestic programs for poor people but things like veterans and border patrol and homeland security. very drastic implications for all of these things. so it, to me, there are many issues in this race. that to me is still the main issue. if in the debates obama can drive home to people watching the debates what that budget means and what the implications

of it are, this that would be very important. >> jennifer: we talked about polls earlier in the show. it showed that president obama did get a bump from his convention despite the lack luster jobs numbers. if you are in the obama war room, do you think he would be feel confident about winning in november despite the jobs numbers? >> i don't know. i haven't quite -- i haven't joined the parade of people saying oh, boy look at this bounce. the fact remains that there are still -- it is still very close in a lot of swing states. and you know, basically within the margin of error in some of the states. romney has much more of a climb than obama has. there's no question about that. but when you think about who the undecided voters are that's a group of voters, they're mostly white noncollege educated voters and that's a group that went pretty strongly against barack obama in 2008. now, they're not likely to go as

against him this time for a number of reasons that we don't have time to get into but they're still likely to tilt against him. so the remaining undecided vote, in other words is probably not very friendly obama territory. that's a little word of warning for obama people who are feeling happy today. >> jennifer: cannot get cocky. that's for sure. michael, thank you so much as usual for joining us. love your insight. michael tomasky of "newsweek" and the "daily beast." after the break the third part of the romney/ryan strategy and the one that should concern all americans the most. efforts by the right wing to suppress the vote. that's next and it is only in "the war room." (vo) this is joy. >>who the heck does mitt romney think he is? (vo) this is joy on current tv. magic underwear the same way as his tax returns, then he's been going commando for the past 10 years. >>since when do you get to say stuff like that on tv? >> listen, if you'd read your email once in a while, you'd know i have a new show. (vo) always outspoken.

>> sometimes i feel like i don't even know you. >> just stay on your side of the screen, ok?

>> jennifer: a third prong of the romney strategy, suppress as many votes on the left as possibible. in fact, voter suppression is occurring in ways you have not even heard of before. in the past weeks, we've discussed how the right is using voter i.d. laws to keep people from registering. well tonight we're taking a close look at how the republicans are going to try to limit voting on election day at polling places all across the country. today, the voter integrity groups called dmos and common cause released a report detailing potential voting problems in ten states. including seven swing states. these are the top five problematic states.

in addition to the voter i.d. laws, this is above and beyond voter i.d. laws, common cause found that in pennsylvania, texas, florida missouri and new hampshire, an entirely different level of voter suppression is likely to happen on election day itself. joining me from washington, d.c. is one of the authors of today's report on voter suppression tactics, stephen spaulding. he's an attorney for common cause. stephen, welcome inside "the war room." >> governor, thanks so much for having me. >> jennifer: you bet. seven of the states you looked at were swing states. how worried are you that these efforts which we're going to talk about in a second could actually sway the election? >> we're concerned about a well funded effort -- claim up to be a million volunteers to confront voters at the polls. driving and seeing the police

following you. they said that they're concerned that the illegal alien vote in their words, that the quote food stamp army is out to steal the election. that kind of overheated rhetoric, where are concerned will fire up overzealous activists that will make it harder for eligible americans to vote and to have their voice counted. >> bullies at the ballot box. be very specific. who are the bullies? >> well, there is a number of groups. partisan activists politicians that are rigging the rules that are manipulating our voter process because they don't want to talk about their ideas. >> jennifer: what are they doing on election day? what does a partisan activist -- what could they possibly be doing to block the vote? >> well, essentially what's happening is groups like true the vote and a number of other groups are training people to go to the polls and to hover over

voters to become poll watchers and to then challenge voters right there at the desk when they're checking in to vote about their status and in a number of these states, that can prevent those voters from actually casting a ballot and having it counted. >> jennifer: so i'm a voter. i go to the polling place and some guy comes up to me and says you're not a properly registered voter, prove it. how can that be legal? >> that's the danger here. that's where we found a mixed assessment across the country. in two states, florida and pennsylvania, it really is problematic. for example, in florida anyone from your county can challenge your right to vote. now they have to sign a document under oath but once you're challenged as to your identity or residency, you have to vote a provisional ballot in florida. >> jennifer: just to be clear. so any -- in florida and pennsylvania anybody any voter, can show up at a poll and challenge a neighbor or challenge somebody they don't like or challenge someone they

think is going to vote democrat because they what? don't they have to have a reason? >> well, they have to have a reason. unfortunately, the law is not always clear in these states. in florida it is if you think someone is "quoting illegally." in pennsylvania, it has to do with your identity. the problem is some of the groups are training people to say look out for noncitizens. what does that mean? read between the lines there. that's a bullying tactic. frankly, it is illegal and against the law. we need to make sure that every american knows their rights so they can have their vote counted as cast. >> jennifer: in florida does the foreclosure crisis make it worse in a state like florida because people may be -- their home situation might be ambiguous? >> sure, that's a problem. in florida which we know sadly has had one of the worst crises when it comes to the foreclosure issue. a number of voters had to move. they had to leave.

they had to change residences. they're still entitled like every other american to vote. if you're rich or poor or young or old, you can have your voice counted. that's as american as apple pie. we need to make sure everyone is able to do this. >> jennifer: there are all of the groups geared up to challenge people in the swing states. what can we do on the other side to make sure that people have their right protected? >> first of all, know that this kind of intimidation is illegal. it is illegal under the voting rights act. it is illegal in all ten states to intimidate voters. if you see this behavior, call your local officials call law enforcement, call 866-our-vote. make sure the story is told and make sure that you and your neighbors and everyone in your family can exercise that fundamental american right. >> jennifer: all right stephen, honestly, people should go to common cause's web site to learn more. this is an outrage! stephen spaulding of common cause, thanks for joining us.

>> thank you governor. >> jennifer: after 40 minutes of breaking down how mitt romney is going to lie and cheat his way to the presidency, i could use something to warm the heart. i'm sure you could too. we're going to tell you about a program that will do just that. it is what's working and it is next. >> corporations will do anything for money. but what if the solution were that corporations will do anything for it's go time. it's go time. it's go time. go time. you know what time it is. go time. it's go time. it's go time. what time is it rob? here comes the young turks go time! it's go time. oh is it? then it's go. go. go. go. go. go. go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time!

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>> jennifer: now to what's working. seems like small businesses are always turning up on the campaign front. they're featured in ads. they're used as fodder and sometimes empty rhetoric including when mitt romney accepted the republican party's nomination. >> every small business wanted these to be their best years ever when they could hire more, do more for those who stuck with them through the hard times. open a new store or response they're little league team. >> jennifer: and then there are moments like this classic between a small businessman and president obama. >> i can't even -- >> come on, man! >> what a great scene! in a few minutes, brett ehrlich

is going to take us inside the bear hug felt around the world. but now we're going to get the inside scoop on how an innovative organization is trying to solve this conundrum. >> who else besides government is powerful enough to help save the world? business! huge corporations. and you know, they're not doing a lot right now because their job is to make money. and if you want to increase profit, you know, reducing your carbon emissions costs money. >> jennifer: so joining me inside the war room is brent schulkin, the founder of the carrot mob web site. you might ask why carrot? because brent's organization provides carrots not sticks, to drive customers to small businesses with guarantees that their money is going to go toward socially responsible improvements. basically, instead of boycott think buy-cott. welcome inside the war room. >> thank you governor, good to

be here. >> jennifer: explain the carrot approach. >> yes, well basically the carrot mob is about letting people influence businesses by making purchases as a group. because if you look at what drives decision making for businesses frequently it is the bottom line and every business has things they love to do but you know, is it financially viable. we say let's get a big group of people together, go to a business and say okay, here's what we want you to do. if you take this action, we'll all spend money. >> jennifer: give me a specific example. >> i'll tell you how it started. i came up with this idea and did a campaign, first campaign in san francisco. i went to a number of small grocery stores here in san francisco and at each one i sort of identified who was willing to make the strongest environmental commitment and then once this one store was signed on, i said okay, i'm going to bring hundreds of people. we brought this line around the block at one day at this little grocery store. we spent thousands of dollars. >> jennifer: love it! >> it was a huge party. and in return, they said okay, we're going to take x percent of

this money you spent and spend it on retrofitting our business to be more energy efficient environmentally friendly. they got all new lights. >> jennifer: how did you get the word out? how did you let people know? how did the mob come to the grocery store? >> in the early days, it was just the idea was so sticky. people said of course, we've been boycotting and protesting and attacking these businesses and you know, we haven't solved the problems. let's try working with them in this way. the ideas people just said i want to do that. of course i'm going to buy groceries anyway. might as well. >> jennifer: how do you get the word out? do people google carrot mob? >> since that first campaign a few years ago we've grown into this global movement. over 200 campaigns in small businesses around the world, ice cream parlor in mexico city a grocery store in bangkok a bar wherever. >> jennifer: how do you find them? >> they find us. this is just community leaders and small -- and schools. they want to reward a business

in our community. they've joined into this global -- >> jennifer: so you started small. are you going big? >> that's exactly what we're doing. we love the small business angle. it is great. we think why not take the same idea that everyone loves and apply it to the biggest companies in the world. the idea that we're doing today we're launching our first ever campaign to focus on the larger business and start tiptoeing up through the biggest businesses in the world. so what it is we've got to deal with a company called thanksgiving coffee and the deal is if we can spend $150,000, all of us, as a mob on buying coffee from their web site, then they agree -- >> jennifer: thanksgiving coffee. >> go to carrotmob.org/thanksgiving and you can find it. they will commit to the first coffee company in modern times to ship their company on a sail powered vessel instead of a container ship. >> jennifer: to try to minimize -- they're going to sail coffee?

>> yes. >> jennifer: isn't that a little expensive? and how long is that going to take for me to get my coffee? i need my coffee right away. >> you know, you can go sign up, get your monthly subscription. lots of coffee. there are a few small businesses that have pioneered sailing. this is the first coffee company to do it. >> jennifer: i totally love it! grassroots bottom up story. i gotta go but i'm loving the fact that you're taking change and seizing it and becoming the change you want to be. >> let's all buy some coffee. >> jennifer: carrotmob.org. find out more on our web site as well. head on over to current.com/"the war room" to find a link to their web site and details on their other successful campaigns. check it out. coming up by the way after the break, brett ehrlich is going to point at something very funny and laugh. no one says it was rocket science, folks.

>> coming up, i see just how many embarrassing campaign photos i can cram into a minininininininininininininininininininininininininin

cu >> jennifer: in our mitt moment tonight i wonder if i should just give up. honestly. a new public policy polling survey found that 15% of ohio

republicans said that mitt romney deserved more credit than president obama for the killing of osama bin laden. you heard that right. 15% of republicans think that mitt romney should get credit for killing bin laden over president obama. another 47% of ohio republicans said they're not sure which one deserves another credit. i'm just sayin' unlessed by laden was pushed down a car elevator shaft we can't figure out how romney could be remotely responsible. photojournalists snap hundreds, even thousands of candidate pictures every day. this weekend two in particular made the news. here to help us appreciate the subtle art of the awkward campaign photo op is brett ehrlich. shh. brett's talking now. >> over the weekend a new poll has obama and biden up five among average americans and up

two among hilarious photo ops. look at joe. they say a picture is worth 1,000 words. when i look at this picture the only word i can think of is -- huh? a local pizzeria owner swept president obama off his feet. i thought white men would give romney a boost. the hilarious photo op is a proud tradition. i went back and looked at my favorites and came up with some tips for aspiring politicians. people ask what am i supposed to do with my hands? in short this. also the rubber glove. it is a great idea. i mean who ever had a bad experience with a guy wearing a rubber glove. don't know what to wear? well, just stick with the fashion of the day. especially when the fashion of the day is really tiny jogging shorts. keep your eyes off the head of state. you can see it later. there's nothing more american than playing football. so play football. especially if you're terrible at football. i don't know what the penalty is

on this but i know there is one. the county fair is the easiest place to embarrass yourself. just find the corn dog guy. and if you're george w. bush, forget the corn dog guy just find the corn guy. there's something wrong with this banana, it's broken. really, the number one rule you can learn is when in doubt just weird us out! yes, that is nancy reagan and mr. t. and this is michael jackson. and this is elvis presley. that just happened. i'm done talking now. >> jennifer: thank you, brett. somebody's always in our war room. check us out online on current.com/the war room. thanks for joining us. we also have tchotchkes. this is a sign from the democratic national convention last week. everybody was holding up saying thank you president